Walking by the swimming pool in the park
One of my son’s favorite pasttimes is to walk to the park “where the big swimming pool is” and watch kids swimming in there. He’s still a bit skittish about jumping in and swimming on his own, but he loves to watch. He sits by the pool fence that wraps around the property and just watches. Once in a while he’ll turn and tell me something that he saw another kid doing, either to tell me it was right or wrong. He notices a lot.
It’s definitely one of those wonderous moments that mothers get to enjoy. If you slow down your brain and just sit and watch and look at him in the moment it really is amazing to see this little creature opening up to see the world. Parenting is incredible.
He wants to know everything. When we’re out on walks he’ll point to things and ask me what they are and then ask a ton of questions about them. What are those mommy? Those are solar garden lights. They help to light the garden at night so you can see the pretty flowers and it helps people to see where they’re walking. That will either satisfy him or start another round of questions.
If he sees something that looks like a ride or something neat to go into, he’ll run over and hop right in. Even something like a outdoor gazebo. To him it’s a wonderous castle that sticks out in the middle of the yard. A fort, an escape to avoid the pirates (or to be one) depending on what he’s doing.
Childhood is amazing, I love how to turns the most mundane things into a fantasy playground and sees the world in a whole new way. It makes me stop and think and enjoy things more.